Thursday, May 11, 2017

The Sixth Sunday of Easter (A), May 21, 2017 - Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-21

François de Nomé: St. Paul Preaching to the Athenians (ca.
1620-1624),

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Acts 17:22-31

Oh, What a Politician!

Oh, what a politician,

Is Paul among the Greeks!

He says they are religious,

Who e'en unknown gods seek;

And then with news he hits them:

The God who made all things

Lives not in what's made by us -

Our wealth, our fame, our bling -

But we, in fact (per poets

They knew) are God's offspring!

Which means the highest value

Of which we all can sing,

Is love, like of a parent,

Defines our life and death;

Thus, Jesus be our policy

With every daily breath.

Scott L. Barton

+ + +

John 14:15-21

The link below is to a performance of Thomas Tallis'
"If Ye Love Me," with John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6RgaPTo4hE

If You Love Me

"If you love me,

keep my commandments,

And I will pray the Father,

And he will give you

another Comforter."

"You're not alone,

When you keep my words,

(He says that it's forever!)

You sure have it made,

Since the Spirit's with you."

"Because I live,

You will live also

(How many times I've said that!)

Father, Son, Spirit -

Enough love all around!"

Scott L. Barton

(The poem's meter is a bit unusual: 4/5/7/5/6. Jesus'
opening words pretty much determined it. Maybe his words determining
things is how it should be all the time for us!)

”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will
be in you.

”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a
little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I
live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and
you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those
who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love
them and reveal myself to them.”

About Me

I grew up in the church. I remember my 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School teachers at the Niskayuna (NY) Reformed Church, was baptized and confirmed at Bakerstown (PA) Presbyterian Church where I wrote my first sermon; gave a Youth Sunday sermon at my home church, New Hartford (NY) Presbyterian Church; went to Haverford College and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. Pastorates: Sackets Harbor (Presbyterian), Heuvelton (Presbyterian) and Potsdam (Presbyterian), New York; Bennington, Vermont (Old First Congregational); and Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania (Collenbrook - Presbyterian and U.C.C.), and a “bridge” pastorate at First Congregational Church, Hadley (U.C.C.). I have files upon files of poems for all kinds of occasions, including family greeting cards and personal notes, farewell accolades to colleagues, hymns, and things that just struck my fancy. Retired, I write a poem each week on a lectionary passage. I hope it helps preachers or anybody else who wants to get started thinking about a text in a new way.
Member Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Boston; previously: The Philadelphia Singers Chorale, and Da Camera Singers and Ars Cantorum in Amherst. Tweet @lectionarypoems